Addressing-machine.



Patented May l3, I902.

F. D. BELKNAP.

ADDRESSING MACHINE.

(Application filed Feb. 15, 1900.)

3 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

INVENTOR ATTORNEY wnwsssas:

Np. 699,742. Patented May I3, I902.

F. D. BELKNAP. nnunassms'mcuiuz.

(Applicatibn filed Feb. 15, 1900.) (No Model.) 38heets-Shoet 2.

No. 699,742. Patented May [3, 1902.

F. D..BELKNAP.

ADDRESSING MACHINE.

(Application filed Feb. 15, 1900.) (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

.Fi ydi ATTORNEY ilrrnn STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

FRANK D. BELKNAP, OF INYVOOD, NEW YORK.

ADDRESSING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart Of Letters Patent No. 699,742, dated May 13, 1902.

. Application filed February 15 1900. Serial No. 5,806. No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK D. BELKNAP, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Inwood, borough of Manhattan, city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Addressing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates generally to stencilprinting machines, and more specifically to certain improvements in the card-feed mechanism of machines of this class designed for addressing envelops, wrappers, &c.

In automatic addressing-machines it frequently occurs through defective feed mechanism that the cards in being advanced are crushed, mutilated, or otherwise injured or that two or more cards are fed forward at the same time. In consequence of such happenings the machine chokes up, and it becomes necessary to shut down, clear away the wreckage, and prepare substitutes for the broken cards. This occupies the time of several operatives and constitutes an item of considerable expense, which it is the object of the present invention to avoid by simplify ing and rendering the feed mechanism efiective in successively advancing the stencilcards, in properly presenting them in perfect condition for cooperation with the printing mechanism, and finally in providing for their delivery and storage when discharged from the machine.

A machine in its preferred form embodying my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, throughout the several views of which like reference-numerals indicate corresponding parts.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional view in diagram, illustrating the automatic card -feed of a stencil-printing machine. Fig. 2 is an enlarged viewin perspective looking toward the rear or delivery end of the machine shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a view in perspective of one of the stencil-cards employed; and Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view of the card-receiving box, showing the inclined movable bottom frictionally sustained therein. Fig. 5 is a view in diagram, illustrating the twin disk-feeding device in its relation to the card-magazines.

In the drawings, 1 represents a magazine in which the stencil-cards are placed to be fed through the machine. The magazine consists of a trough-like box with open ends and is bolted or otherwise secured to the frame of the machine at a proper angle and provided with a follower-weight 2, freely movable there in and placed in the rear of the cards for the purpose of advancing the latter to the feed mechanism.

On a through-shaft 3, mounted in suitable bearings in the frame 4, twin disks 5 are keyed and are provided, respectively, with a series of equispaced peripheral teeth or projections 6 6, the. These disks are arranged with respect to the card-chute so that the radial teeth are brought into operative relation with the frame 7 of the stencil-cards as the latter are advanced by the weighted follower, and in rotation the cards are successively engaged by the teeth and fed into a second magazine formed by the guides 8. To prevent more than one card being fed forward at the same time, the entrance to the second magazine is contracted by means of lugs 9, which project from the frame and partly overlap the guides, leaving only sufficient space for the passage of a single card. Twin strippers 10 are employed in connection with the disk-feed and serve to insure complete disengagement of thedisk-teeth from the cards as the latter pass from the curved into the horizontal portion of the magazine-guides.

11 represents the ink-fountain, which is arranged below the second magazine ata point beyond the disks, 12 being the fountain-roll thereof and 13 the ink-roll. The ink-roll is provided with a pad 14 and is geared to the fountain-roll, as indicated at 15. Above the ink-roll and guides the platen or impression roll 16 is rotatably mounted and is cut away for a purpose tobe described, leaving only suflicient surface to cooperate with the ink pad. In the cut-away portion of the platen an envelop-ejector is adjustably mounted, and consists of a curved. strip 17, slotted at 18 and secured diametrically opposite the platen proper to its shaft by a screw 18, passing through the slot. The opposite ends of this curved plate are bent up to form fingers 19 19, which project radially and are adj usted so that on rotation of the platen the fingers engagetho printed envelop and throw it clear of the machine into a box or other receptacle. (Not shown.)

The card-guides of the second magazine terminate at a point 20, just beyond the platen; but the upper member or strip thereof is continued and bent downward at an incline, as indicated at 21. A. pair of milled rollers 22 22 are employed, which cooperate with the inclined ends of the guides in effecting the discharge of the cards into the receiving-box and are mounted onashaft23,suitably driven, their rotation being in the direction indicated by the arrow. After the stencil-card has passed between the platen and ink-roller it is engaged and discharged into the receivingbox by the rollers above referred to.

24 represents the card-receiving box, which is vertically disposed'and arranged at the discharge end of the machine to receive the stencil-cards as they. are delivered by the milled rollers. Within the box a movable bottom 25 is frictionally supported by means of a number of flat plate-springs 26, carried thereby, which bear against the walls of the box. 1 preferably employ four of these springs to prevent binding of the bottom in its travel. As shown in Fig. 4:, the bottom is inclined for the purpose of facilitating the entrance and packing of the cards. Within the box on the wall adjoining the machine and near the top thereof a pair of bent strips 27 are secured and serve as guides in directing the cards when entering the chute and prevent their becoming entangled with the moving parts of the mechanism. The rear wall of the box is cut away at 28, and at or near the upper end in the opening thus formed an oscillating packer 29 is mounted, which consists -of a fiat plate approximately U- shaped and carried by a shaft 30, the shaft being mounted in bearings 31 31 and provided at its outer end with a crank-arm 32. Motion is transmitted to the packer from a central shaft 33 of the machine through the cam 34 and pivoted arm 35, which latter is provided at one end with a cam-roller 36, held in engagement with the cam 34: by means of a spring 37, and at its other end with a stud or nn 38, which engages a slot 39 of the crankarm 32. Twin guides 40 40 extend from the table downward at an incline and serve to carry the printed envelop when discharged by the ejector clear of the card-box.

Mounted on the table in operative relation with the printing mechanism I have illustrated certain parts of a well-known envelopfeed mechanism, which, however, forms no part of the present invention and may be replaced by an automatic rotary newspaperwrapper cutter, such as is illustrated and described in Patent No. 581,259, of April 27, 1897, or the machine may be hand-fed or provided with any feed mechanism desired.

The operation is as follows: The stencilcards from which the addresses are to be printed are placed in the inclined magazine with the weighted follower in the rear, so as to exert a constant pressure on the cards and cause them to be continuously forced toward the toothed disk. On starting the machine the disks revolve and the teeth thereof in passing the open end of the magazine successively engage the frame of the cards and advance the same successively into the guides of the second magazine. As the first card passes from the curved section into the horizontal portion of the guides the strippers act to insure a proper disengagement of the disk-teeth and the card is advanced toward the printing mechanism by the forward movement of others in the rear fed through the continued rotation of the disks. An envelop is placed, either by hand or through the aid of suitable feeding mechanism, in position between the platen and the ink-roller, and as the card in advancing in the guides is engaged by the rotating platen both the card and the envelop move forward and the printing is effected in the well-known manner. After being released the envelop is separated from the card by the ejector and thrown outward upon the bent-wire guides 40 40, and the card is caught between the milled rollers and the inclined guide-terminals and discharged into the receiving-box, where it drops upon and is supported by the inclined movable bottom. The packer is then caused to swing downward through the action of cam 34, which is adjusted to oscillate the same as each card drops into the box. lVhen a card enters the receiving-box, the packer on the downstroke exerts just enough pressure to overcome the springs and move the bottom downward a distance equal approximately to the thickness of the card. After a number of cards have been discharged into the chute they tend to rise as the packer is elevated or returns to its normal position, but are checked in this tendency by the projecting lugs 41 41.

Prominent among the advantages of my invention may be mentioned the following: Through the employment of feed mechanism acting continuously and in one direction a comparatively slow motion in the operation thereof will advance the requisite number of cards for serving a high-speed printing mechanism. At the same time under the action of the rotary feed, straight guides, and strippers the cards are brought to less Wear and there is little or no liability of their being torn or mutilated. Furthermore, by utilizing the cards in the receiving box as a medium through which motion is transmitted from the vibrating packer to feed the frictionally-sustained bottom the available card-receiving space varies as the number of cards entered, the entrance of the cards is facilitated, and the cards within the box are brought into compact relation.

It will be understood that I do not wish to confine myself to the exact form or arrangement of parts herein described, as various changes maybe made or equivalent mechanism substituted, involving a rearrangement of parts or detail changes in adapting it to perform its intended function.

Having, therefore, described my invention, I claim as new 7 1. The combination with printing mechanism and a card-magazine, of rotary card-feed mechanism, continuously acting and inde pendent of the printing mechanism, said feed mechanism being operatively arranged between the magazine and printing mechanism, as specified.

2. The combination with printing mechanism and a card-magazine, of rotary card-feed mechanism continuously acting and separated from the printing mechanism, but operatively arranged to feed the cards from the magazine, as specified.

3. The combination with printing mechanism and a card-magazine, of rotary card-feed mechanism continuously acting, said feed mechanism being arranged between the magazine and printing mechanism to cooperate therewith as a separate and independent device.

4. The combination with printing mechanism aud a card-magazine, of rotary card-feed mechanism continuously acting, said feed mechanism being arranged between the magazine and printing mechanism to cooperate therewith as a separate and independent device, and asecond magazine, comprising cardcarrying guides extending from the feed to the printing mechanism.

5. The combination with printing mechanism and a card-magazine of rotary card-feed mechanism continuously acting, said feed mechanism being arranged between the magazine and printing mechanism to cooperate therewith as a separate and independent device, and a second magazine, comprising cardcarrying guides extending from the feed to the printing mechanism, the entrance to the second magazine being contracted to the approximate thickness-of the card.

6. The combination with printing mechanism and a card-magazine, of rotary card-feed mechanism continuously acting, said feed mechanism being arranged between the magazine and printing mechanism to cooperate therewith as a separate and independent device, strippers for the cards and a second magazine, comprising carrying-guides extending from the feed to the printing mechanism.

7. The combination with printing mechanism and a card-magazine, of rotary card-feed mechanism continuously acting, said feed mechanism being arranged between the magazine and printing mechanism to cooperate therewith as a separate and independent device, and comprising a series of projections radially disposed about and carried by a rotatable shaft.

8. In a stencil-printing machine, the combination with card-magazines and stencilprinting mechanism of a stencil-card-feeding device, comprising twin disks, toothed to engage the cards and arranged in operative relation to the magazines, one of the magazines extending from the point of feed to the printing mechanism, as specified.

9. In a stencil-printing machine, the combination with card-magazines and stencilprinting mechanism of a card-feeding device, com prising twin disks, toothed to engage the cards and arranged in operative relation to the magazines, and card-strippers cooperating With the disks, as specified.

-10. In a stencil-printing machine, the combination with card-magazines and stencilprinting mechanism, of a card-feedin g device, comprising twin disks, toothed to engage the cards and arranged in operative relation to the magazines, one of the magazines extending from the point of feed to the printing mechanism, and card-strippers cooperating with the disks.

11. In a stencil-printing machine, the com bination with a vertically-disposed card-receiving box arranged in operative relation to the discharge end thereof, of a movable inclined bottom frictionally sustained within the box and an automatic feed for adjusting the bottom according to the number of cards entered, as specified.

12. In a stencil-printing machine, the combination with a vertically-disposed card-receiving box arranged in operative relation to the discharge end thereof, of a movable bottom f rictionally sustained Within the box and an automatic feed for adjusting the bottom according to the number of cards entered, and one or more projections entering the box as card-retainers, as specified.

13. In a stencil-printing machine,the combination with a vertically-disposed card-receiving box arranged in operative relation to the discharge end thereof, of a movable bottom frictionally sustained within the box, a series of springs secured to the movable bottom and bearing against the inner walls of the box, whereby the bottom is frictionally supported, and an automatic feed device for adjusting the bottom according to the number of cards entered, as specified.

14. In a stencil-printing machine, the combination with a card-receiving box arranged in operative relation to the discharge end thereof, of a movable bottom frictionally sustained within the box, a series of springs secured to the movable bottom and bearing against the inner Walls of the box, whereby the bottom is frictionally supported, and an automatic feed device for adjusting the bottom comprising a vibrating arm relatively disposed to engage the cards within the box and suitable gearing for transmitting the requisite motion for vibrating said arm, as specified.

'15. The combination of a rotaryprinting mechanism, a rotary stencil-card-feed mechanism separate from the printing mechanism, and straight slotted guides extending from between the two and tangential to all the rotheir progress from feed to printing mech- 1o tating elements comprised therein. anism.

16. The combination of a continuously-1o Signed by me at New York, N. Y., this 8th rating, printinlg meaegianiism, g continnoc llilyday of February, 1900. 5 rotatingstenci -car ee mec anisnnan W0 oppositely-arranged slotted guides between FRANK BELKNAP' which the card passes from feed mechanism \Vitnesses: to printing mechanism, whereby said cards W. H. PUMPHREY, are positively held in line at every point of PHILIP HAYES. 

